


Paint a picture

by Cats_Dont_Float



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human/Troll Society (Homestuck), Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, First Dates, First Meetings, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 22:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20628701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cats_Dont_Float/pseuds/Cats_Dont_Float
Summary: Dave stumbles across a troll sat in the rain outside the university. As they become friends, Karkat develops a fascination for drawing Dave's face and Dave starts to fall for the troll. Eventually, he works up the nerve to ask him on a date.(An AU in which Dave is studying music and Karkat is an art student.)





	Paint a picture

It's been a long day, your last class overran, and now you're late to meet your sister to get to family dinner tonight. Great. Just great.  
You rush out of the university building, stopping the second you get out of the door because it's raining. You haven't got a jacket with you, and so you just wince very slightly as you step out from under the roof and start to rush down the large stone steps outside the building. About halfway down the stairs, you stop again, because there's someone sat on the stairs there. It's one of the trolls that go to this university. You see them around here a lot, but there's not many of them in your classes and you don't know this troll well. He's got wild, short black hair, tiny nubby horns that seem slightly pitiful for his species, and he's probably the shortest troll you've ever seen before. Most of the other trolls are the same size as you or a lot taller but he's got to be a foot shorter than you, and it makes him look slightly weak but also less threatening than all of the other trolls you know. Why he's sitting outside in the rain with no jacket on though you have no idea.  
"Hey," you say, stepping down so you're standing on the step he's sat on. You watch as his large, pointed ears twitch slightly, and then he slowly looks up, eyes travelling the way up until he meets your face.  
"What do you want?" He says, voice slightly angry. You notice as he looks up that there's a smudge of something on his nose.  
"Just wondering what you're doing sat on the floor in the rain," you say with a shrug. "Also, you've got something on your face."  
"I'm waiting for a friend," he replies, "And yes I fucking know there's stuff on my face. Some fuckass in my art class split ink fucking everywhere." He lifts a hand to angrily rub at his nose, and you notice ink stains on his hands too.  
"Shitty friend leaving you in the rain," you state, and he snarls.  
"Leave my friends out of it, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about," he says, a little too defensively, "Gamzee's just... easily distracted. He'll be here soon." He looks back up at you through strands of wet hair, and growls again.  
"Fine, I'll leave you to it then," you say, taking a few more steps down away from him.  
"Yeah, whatever," you hear him mutter behind you.  
You find Rose parked around the corner and hop into her car, apologising for being late. And a few moments after when you drive past the university building, the small troll is greeting a much larger troll with his face painted like a clown. As Rose turns the car around the corner, you see the two hugging, and smile faintly to yourself.

Two weeks later, you've almost forgotten about the troll you met in the rain. Then one day, in a break between classes, you step into a nearby coffee shop, and notice him sat alone on a small table by the window. You place your usual coffee order, but you're feeling a little too tired from classes to have your usual banter with the girl who woks behind the counter. When you turn around with your coffee in your hand, you notice that the troll is watching you with a steady gaze. His eyes flick away after a few seconds, and he glances down at a book he's got spread out on the table in front of him. For a few moments you stand, looking around, unsure what to do. The coffee shop isn't that busy, and there are a few tables empty. Even so, you can't quite stop yourself from taking a route that passes by his table, telling yourself you'll just say hi.  
"You again?" The troll asks before you can even say anything. He hasn't even looked up, and is still staring down at a blank page of what you can now see is a sketchbook in front of him, and tapping a pencil against the table with one hand.  
"Yep, here I am," you declare with a small laugh. He looks up at you, and rolls his eyes back so far that you can barely see any of the red iris.  
"Well, are you sitting down or not?" He asks impatiently after a second. When you splutter, he adds, "That's why you came over here, right? Or are you just being weird?"  
"Uh, yeah, sure," you mutter, a little surprised by that, but pulling out the chair opposite him and sitting down anyway. For a moment, there's nothing but the sound of him tapping his pencil and the both of you sipping at your coffee. "I'm Dave, by the way, Dave Strider," you say.  
He looks up, nods, and then says, "Karkat Vantas," before ducking his head back down.  
"What are you doing?" You ask as he continues to stare intensely at the paper, as if he's expecting to something to just appear on it.  
He looks up, and sighs, nostrils flaring slightly. "I've got art block," he huffs, "Can't draw a fucking thing and I need some inspiration for this shit. I've finished all my stuff for classes, but I can't get any of my own personal shit done." The amount that he swears makes you laugh faintly. Then, surprising even yourself, you hold out a hand.  
"Can I see?" You ask. He stares for a few seconds, then slowly pushes over his sketchbook.  
"Better not laugh, fuckass," Karkat mutters as you slowly flick to the front pages.

His art is beautiful. It doesn't take you long to realise that he's got a very distinct style, with everything drawn in heavy lines like he's always drawing in a rush. Yet somehow everything's done in extreme detail. Almost all of the sketches are in black and white, with a few pages done in colour with watercolour paint.  
"Those are just sort of sketches," Karkat shrugs, as if he doesn't really care, "I prefer working on bigger pages, or canvas. With paint preferably, when I can afford it."  
"It's awesome, dude," you tell him, still flicking through the pages. There's a few sketches of what are obviously his friends; you recognise one of them as the clown friend you saw with him a while ago.  
"It's really nothing special," he sighs, reaching out and taking it back from you.  
"Yeah it is," you tell him, letting him take the book back and finishing off your coffee, "Don't doubt yourself. You're really good." He smiles shyly, cheeks flushing slightly red. Huh, red. You don' know much about trolls, but that's a low blood colour, right? Maybe that's why he's so small.  
There's a few moments of silence, and then Karkat says, "I should go soon. Got another class."  
"Yeah," you say, "I'll see you around, yeah?"  
"Maybe you will," Karkat says. He stands up to go, and pats you heavily on the shoulder as he goes. Finding the action weird, you look around and notice a note stuck to your shoulder. You laugh as you pull it off, and then you blush when you see that there's a phone number on the paper, along with a small doodle of your face. You have no idea when he made this note, but you find it more than adorable. Within minutes of him leaving, you send your first text to him: got your number weirdo.

For the next few days, the two of you text back and forth almost constantly. You get distracted from your lectures by his messages complaining about the idiots in his classes, and in return you disturb his nightly painting sessions with constant texts about the music you're currently creating for a class assignment. He tells you one night that its only fair that if you get so see his art then he should be able to ehar your music. So you invite him over the next evening.  
"Who is this boy you're bringing round?" Rose asks when you tell her, sounding for all the world like she's your mum instead of your sister.  
"His name's Karkat," you say, "Met him outside uni. Grumpy bastard really, but nice."  
She does that thing where she narrows her eyes like she always does when she's trying to remember something, and then lets out a gasp. "I know that name!" She declares, "He's one of Kanaya's friends!"  
"Ugh," is all you say. Of course he knows your sister's girlfriend, everyone seems to know her.  
"Aww, we can go on double dates," she teases, eyes glinting slightly mischievously.  
"Absoultely not!" You protest, "I don't like him like that! He's just a friend." Even as you say it you know you're lying. Karkat's well... he's not completely unattractive, and yeah you really do enjoy talking to him. But you're sure that it's too early at this point to be liking him in any way other than purely in a platonic way, so you just throw a cushion at Rose and leave the room.

Karkat comes round a while later, and you very quickly lead him past Rose's room and into your own. He stops in the doorway to look around for a few seconds, and then is quick to make himself at hom,e dropping down onto one of the beanbags shoved into one corner. You sit down on the other one, sinking back into it so that both of you are sat close together. You're not sure what to say for a second, and then he breaks the silence.  
"Cosy in here," he says, looking around. Everything's mostly dark red and black, in a way that makes the room feel small and dark, and the curtains are, as usual, pulled shut to block out the sunlight. You like it, but most people seem not to. You guess trolls like the dark though.  
"Thanks," you mutter, settling yourself a little more comfortably in your seat and smiling.  
"So, show us your music," he says.  
You laugh. "Already? Thought we were gonna do like bro stuff and just hang out and order food first." You try to keep your usual cool-kid, emotionless mask on, hoping he won't notice how nervous you are about him listening to your music.  
"We'll do that later," he tells you, "Especially the food thing, I'm starving. But first you've gotta show me your music. You promised."  
"Fine," you sigh softly, and get up to grab your laptop from where it's open on the bed. You sit back down by his side, and plug your earphones into your laptop, passing one ear over to him. He grins, and puts the earphone into his ear, leaning back slightly with an expectant look on his face. So you flick through the files on your laptop for a while, choosing one of your songs that you're not too embarrassed of. It's a piece you did for a class assignment; an instrumental piece mostly, with a few small sections of you rapping. It's a stupid rap, and you blush in embarrassment as you listen to it. Karkat's not said anything yet, so you look over and see he's got his head leaned back, eyes closed, tapping one toe in time to the beat. You smile, because its such a cute sight, and you watch him until the music comes to an end.  
His eyes flow open almost instantly, and he looks over at you.  
"You're really good," he tells you, "That was... I can really feel the emotion. Dave, that was amazing." He waves his hands around excitedly as he says this, and you can tell he really means it.  
"Thanks," you mutter very quietly, not really feeling like you can believe it even though you know he's not lying.  
"Show me another one," he says, and this time you're not so hesitant to do it.  
You let him listen to a few more of your songs, and then distract him by suggesting that the two of you order pizza. He agrees excitedly.

Later, when you're both sitting in your dark room, eating pizza and chatting quietly, Karkat pulls out a sketchbook and his pencils.  
"Sorry," he says, "I just... got inspired. Just keep talking, pretend I'm not drawing."  
You smile, and nod. "Alright," you say, "So, tell me about that friend you were telling me about... Terezi, was it?"  
"Oh yeah, Tez," he says, and then continues telling you about his friend. He sketches as he does so, stopping talking occasionally to focus on something he's drawing and then suddenly jumping back into the conversation again. Eventually, he puts the sketchbook down, and declares that he's done. Without you even asking, he passes it to you, biting at his lip with one fang nervously.  
"Oh wow," is all you can say. Because he's drawn you. And he's made you look amazing.  
He's drawn you laughing, leaning back slightly, head thrown back and mouth open as you laugh. It looks so realistic, and it's probably one of the best things you've ever seen him draw. What amazes you most is the emotion he's drawn on your face. You don't think you've ever shown that much emotion in front of many people before, and it makes you realise that he's already gotten closer to you than almost anyone you've ever met before. You feel way too comfortable around him, and that fact shocks you slightly, but it makes you happy too, and so you don't dwell on it for long.  
"You've just got a really interesting face," Karkat shrugs, taking the book back from him, "It was just interesting to draw."  
"Thank you," you say, "It... means a lot, dude."  
"There's one thing I wanna see though," he says quietly. When you nod for him to continue, he says, "Could I maybe see your eyes? At lot of the emotion's in the eyes, and I wanna draw yours."  
You sigh heavily. "Dude, no one sees my eyes," you say, "They're freaky." He rolls his eyes, but you hold up a hand before he can say anything. "But I guess I wanna help you with your art stuff, so..." you lift up your shades, and he leans forward. It's still dim in the room, but there's a small lamp on behind you and he can clearly see your eyes in the light.  
"Woah," he murmurs quietly, "They're cool." He continues to stare, scrabbling for his sketchbook blindly with one hand, and starts to draw. "Gonna need some paint for these," he says, "I'll colour them when I get home."  
You laugh, feeling slightly uncomfortable with him staring but not feeling judged by his stare. Eventually he pushes his book aside.  
"That's enough for tonight," he says, voice muffled by a pencil hanging out of the side of his mouth, "Thanks." You grin.  
"No problem dude. Wanna watch a movie?" You ask. He nods happily, and you load one up on your laptop.

Later that night, Karkat falls asleep laid out across the beanbags. You quietly tiptoe away from him and crawl into your bed. You roll over and look at him with a smile as he murmurs something in his sleep, then turn off the only light in the room and roll onto your back to get some sleep yourself. As you lay there, all you can really think about is Karkat's smile, and how his voice sounds when he's talking quietly just to you, and just everything about him that you find adorable. And you fall asleep with a smile on your face. 

The two of you meet up again a few days later. You meet Karkat outside the building where his art classes are, and the two of you walk across to the nearby park.  
"I always come here, it's a nice place to draw," Karkat mutters as the two of you walk across the grass towards a small group of trees. It's a warm day, and your skin is already burning slightly, so you're glad to sit down under the shade of the trees.  
"It's nice here," you say with a smile. Karkat pulls out a sketchbook from his bag, larger than the one he was using in the coffee shop, and gets to work sketching a few of the trees. You smile, pull out your phone and headphones, and lean back against the tree behind you as the familiar song fills your head, eyes closed behind you shades.  
After about fifteen minutes, you start to hear something that might be shouting, and open your eyes just as Karkat starts to tap on your earphones.  
"Finally," he huffs when you lift up one ear of your headphones and turn down your music's volume, "Been calling out to you for ages."  
"Sorry dude," you say, "Was totally in my zone over here." Karkat rolls his eyes, but then silently passes his sketchbook over to you, biting nervously at his lip with one fang. You take it, and feel a weird twist in your stomach at the sight of a detailed sketch of your face. He's been drawing you so much recently, and the hopeful part of your brain tells you that maybe he likes you as much as you like him.  
"Sorry," he says, hanging his head very slightly, "I wanted to draw someone and I looked over, and you just looked like a good subject. Again. You've got a good face for drawing I guess."  
You smile, trying to reassure him that it's okay. "Looks amazing, bro," you say, "You're really fucking good at this shit."  
He smiles, a rare sight, and takes the book back happily. "Thanks," he murmurs.  
The two of you sit there for a while, mostly in silence apart from a few small conversations, and eventually the two of you get up to leave.

As the two of you walk through the park in silence, you shove your hands into your pockets and then glance over at Karkat. He's got his head down slightly, and his hair's falling over his face. The sketchbook is tucked under his arm, his rucksack hanging off of one shoulder. The warm sunlight is making his grey skin glow slightly and outlining the shape of his horns. And the way he's biting at his lip and pulling at the bottom of his sweater with one hand is... well really it's too adorable. This sudden realisation comes with a surprising rush of bravery, and you know you've got to say something to him before you get too anxious.  
"Karkat," you ask, and your voice is far quieter than you'd expected it to be.  
"Yeah," he says, not looking up from his feet and not seeming to hear how anxious you are.  
"Would you maybe... and you don't have to say yes, by the way, but would you wanna go for dinner with me sometime?" You ask, and then regret. Maybe he's not into dudes, even though trolls don't really care about gender. Honestly, he might not even like humans.  
He turns to you with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Like... a date? Like in human romcoms?"  
You stifle a laugh at that, and nod. "Yeah, um you don't have to. I just think you're pretty cute and I think I'd like to get to know you better."  
He stares for a second, lips twitching up into a smile he tries to fight back. "Okay," he says, "But... remember humans and trolls don't have the same romance so... like, just give me some time, okay?"  
You let out a huge sigh of relief. "Yes! okay! Of course!" You babble, aware of how manic you sound but unable to stop it due to the mixture of nerves and excitement you're currently battling, "I'll pick you up. Sunday night at half six. That good?"  
"Yeah, alright," he nods, and finally allows himself to smile. Wow, he looks good when he smiles. It really does light up his whole face. You stare at that smile until the two of you have to part ways to get back to your own homes, and once he's gone you let yourself grin wildly and laugh to yourself in the middle of the street. A judgemental old woman stops and stares at you. You don't care.

"Rose!" You practically scream when you get home, throwing yourself through the door of the apartment and stumbling inside.  
"Pray tell, what's wrong dear brother?" She asks from where she's sat on the sofa, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She's writing in her wizard fanfic notebook again, but she's actually looked up at you for once.  
"I've got a date. Sunday. That's... shit that's two days!" You shout, already panicking, "Oh god what if I can't book a restaurant in time? What if he changes his mind? Fuck. What if I'm a disappointment like I am in every other aspect of my life and he doesn't like me?" You're pacing at this point in front of the sofa, and her eyes follow you slowly She's watching you so intensely, in fact, that you reckon if you keep walking long enough you could probably hypnotise her.  
"Dave," she says eventually, holding up one hand. With a smirk, she adds, "Who is this boy?"  
"It's Karkat!" You say happily, "Rose, this could be the love of my life!" You declare in a fake, dreamy voice, flopping down dramatically onto the sofa next to her, because you are nothing if not a drama queen.  
"Wow, I'm impressed. Thought it would take you ages to realise you had feelings for him," she says, "I'm proud of you."  
"Whatever," you say, waving it off.  
"David," she says, pointing the end of her pen at you. "Go and book a restaurant."  
"Oh right! Yeah! Not gonna fuck this one up!" You call, already racing away to your room. You hear her laughing behind you as you go.

Sunday rolls around far too quickly, and you find yourself in your room at six, scrambling to throw together an outfit because you decided last minute that the one you had previously picked out wasn't good enough. Rose watches from the doorway, the observant look in her eyes telling you that she can read your current emotions like you're a book. Eventually, you shoo her away so you can at least have some privacy to change, and then step into the hallway for her to assess your outfit. She looks up and down at your black skinny jeans, red button up shirt and blank converse, and nods in acceptance.  
"Good look, Strider," she says with a smile, "Now go, you've not got long until you're supposed to pick him up."  
"Right, yeah," you reply, and then the panic sets in. Your breath hitches very slightly, and you mutter a quiet, "Oh shit."  
"Gonna be fine," Rose tells you, with a few small pats on your back, "Seriously, you've gotta chill."  
"Yeah, I'm gonna be okay," you say, trying to convince yourself more than her. You stand up a little straighter and reach for your phone and keys. Then you head to the front door. Rose calls little good luck wishes after you until you're getting into your old, beat up car and driving away.

You pull up outside Karkat's apartment building with a few minutes to spare, and find him already standing in the street. He doesn't notice you for a second, and you take that time to look at him. he';s fidgeting nervously, shifting from foot to foot and biting at one of his claws. He's wearing a shirt that's similar to yours but black instead of red, and jeans, his hair slightly neater than usual as if he's actually attempted to style it for once. You slam a hand dramatically onto the steering wheel, and laugh when he jumps slightly at the sound of the horn. He looks around wildly, and then spots you and smiles, rushing towards your car. Before he can reach you, you get out of the car, and step around to pull the door open for him.  
"Hey," you say, greeting him with a small smile. He grins, and actually lets you pull him into a hug before he gets into the car. You think about how small and warm he felt in your arms as you go back around to get into your own seat. "Ready for dinner?" You ask when he's got his seat belt on.  
"Yeah," he says, and wow his voice is just as shaky as yours. You reach over to gently pat him on the knee in an attempt to try and calm him, and then start the car.  
"Good," you say with a smile, "Because I am so hungry." He laughs, the sound mixing with the familiar sound of the car's engine rumbling, and then you pull away.  
It's not far to get to the restaurant, but still long enough that there's a silence to fill. You turn down the radio in your car so that you can talk to him, asking him how his art's going.  
"It's okay," he says with a shrug, "Still not got many ideas for art pieces and my projects are starting to suffer because of it. The few things I've done have turned out good though."  
"You'll get ideas soon," you tell him, "All good artists go through art block." He doesn't say anything, but hums very quietly in a way that tells you he's grateful for your words.

You manage to park right outside of the restaurant, which is good because it's starting to rain. The two of you rush inside, and luckily your hair doesn't get too messed up in the rain. That sounds vain, but you just really don't want to look gross for this date that means so much to you.  
"This place is nice," Karkat says as the two of you step inside. It's dimly lit but in a way that makes it feel comfortable and peaceful, and when you sit down at your table it feels like you're the only ones in the room. You have to agree with him; it is nice.  
"Thanks for agreeing to come with me," you say, raising a menu up slightly to cover your flushed face.  
"It's okay, I want to be here," Karkat smiles, "You're... you know, not bad looking for a human."  
You let out a small snort of laughter, knowing Karkat means nothing bad by that. "Thanks dude, means a lot," you laugh faintly, reaching out across the table to pat Karkat's hand. He blushes, and turns away slightly.  
"So, what are you ordering?" He asks to change the subject. You grin, look back down at your menu, and start to make up your mind.

Once you've ordered, you turn your attention back to Karkat. You ask him about his life, his friends, his childhood. And he tells you everything. His eyes light up slightly when he talks about his moirallegiance with Gamzee. That starts the conversations about quadrants, and it takes you a while to work out that you guess you're okay with his relationship with Gamzee. The food arrives whilst Karkat's talking about his friends, and you're too focused on how his eyes shine when he talks about things he love to even think about the food.  
You're pulled from your trance by Karkat telling you to "eat your food, fuckass." You laugh softly, and do start to eat, though the two of you talk whilst eating, and your food goes cold before you can finish it. Neither of you care, though. You're too lost in each other's words.  
"Yeah, so Rose and I are pretty close," you tell him as the two of you finish up your food, "She's really helped me learn to be more in touch with my feelings. That's something I'm really not very good at."  
"You were pretty good at telling me you wanted to go on a date with me," Karkat says with a small shrug.  
"Yeah, well," you say, "I dunno, never met someone like you before, and I just kinda wanted to ask you before I got too nervous."  
He smiles, and leans across the table so your faces are very close together. "I'm really glad you did ask me," he says quietly, and reaches out to take one of your hands in his. You quickly lace your fingers with his and squeeze tightly.  
"I'm glad I asked you too," you reply, and can't help letting a tiny, nervous giggle escape from your throat. He leans a little closer, and you lean in too, reaching out take hold of his other hand too. The sounds from around you in the restaurant seem to get quieter as you focus on only Karkat. His eyes are wide, bright red irises reminding you so much of your own, and you wonder if he's thinking the same thing. You laugh nervously again, shoulders shaking with the laughter. And that's when the waiter appears.  
The two of you quickly sit back away from each other as the waiter begins to speak, and the two of you make eye contact, and you find that you're both stifling laughter. You pay quickly, having to argue a few times with Karkat as he tries to protest you paying for the meal. Then the two of you leave the restaurant together. You both reach out for the other's hands as you step outside, and the feeling of walking so close by his side makes you smile uncontrollably to yourself.

"Thank you," Karkat murmurs as you step out into the cool night air.  
"It's no problem," you say, assuming he's talking about you paying for dinner.  
"No I mean..." he sighs, "You make me feel good about myself, Dave. You compliment my art and you take me out for dinner and you tell me you like me and... you make me feel like I matter." That makes you both happy and incredibly sad at the exact same time, and you can't stop yourself from stopping in the middle of the street and pulling him close towards you.  
"Of course you matter, idiot," you murmur fondly, before leaning down to kiss him. He lets out a surprised squeak against your lips, but kisses you back eagerly, stretching up on his toes so you don't have to lean down so much and wrapping his arms around you tightly. When you eventually break away from him, he's flustered, his hair messy again from where you ran a hand through it a few times, and you've never seen his cheeks such a bright red. Then you both stare at each other for unnecessarily long in awkward silence, and then her turns quickly and starts walking again, hand still holding yours so he's dragging you along. Within seconds you're at the car, and he's smiling at you as you open his door for him again like the gentleman you are. Then you rush around to get into the driver's seat. The second the door shits behind you, he grabs you roughly by the shoulders and practically crushes his lips against yours. You let out a small gasp as he pulls away for a second, and you push him back so you can catch your breath. Then you lean back in to gently brush your lips across his teasingly, before pushing him away again and turning to face the road.  
"Gotta get you home dude," you say with a small laugh.  
"Asshole," he laughs, leaning back in his seat. You grin, grabbing onto the steering wheel with shaking hands and starting up the car. "So," he says as you start to drive, "I did a bit of research into human relationships, and have found that your human dating is sort of like a mixture of every troll quadrant. And well that sounds pretty good, actually. So I was wondering... do you maybe wanna be my boyfriend?"  
You let out a relieved laugh. "Thank god, I was gonna ask the same thing and I was worried we weren't gonna fit in any quadrants of yours," you tell him, "Yes, yes I'll be your boyfriend." He doesn't say anything, and neither do you. But when you look over you can see the moonlight glinting on his face, and you can clearly see his smile.

When you pull over outside his house, he leans over and kisses you again.  
"I don't wanna say goodbye," he says, "Don't want tonight to be over. Come inside for a bit?"  
"I can't," you tell him softly, "I have classes early tomorrow. And so do you," you add, poking him in the nose. He flinches back and scrunches up his nose in a way that's overly adorable.  
"Ugh," he sighs, "I guess you're right." You kiss him again, and then he hesitantly gets out of the car. "Meet you at lunch tomorrow?" He asks quietly.  
"Of course," you tell him, "Call me." He huffs out a small laugh, and then heads towards his apartment. You watch until he disappears inside, and then sigh dreamily before you drive away.

Over the next few weeks, you spend as much of your spare time as possible with Karkat. You meet a few of his friends and the two of you spend a lot of nights at each other's houses, just laying together and talking quietly. Sometimes he's draws, sometimes you rap or play music for him, and sometimes the two of you just talk and enjoy each other's company. His birthday happens at some point during those weeks, and you buy him a new set of paintbrushes and some paints, because he mentioned needing some. He very almost cries when you give them to him.  
You pick him up from his classroom one day for a date. He texts you saying that he's gotten caught up doing his art, and so you make your way to the actual classroom and knock gently on the door before you step in. The teacher at the front of the room looks up at you, and narrows her eyebrows in a way that tells you that she's trying to work out if you're one of her students or not.  
"Just here to pick up this one," you say to her, nodding at Karkat, who's the only student left in the room. The teacher smiles faintly, and nods at you as you step over to him and practically pry the pencil from his hand.  
"Karks," you say, "Gotta go. We got a date, remember?" He whines slightly, and you add, "Art will be here tomorrow. You can even draw tonight if you want. Let's just go get dinner first. Your turn to pay." He turns slighlty and stares for a second, then seems to soften, and shuts his sketchbook.  
"Fine," he huffs, getting to his feet. The teacher gives you a slightly surprise thumbs-up as you walk him out of the room, and you laugh softly. You're glad you drag him away, because its the best date you've ever had so far.

It's been almost three months of you dating when he calls and asks you to come over. You agree, though you're slightly worried because the two of you aren't supposed to meet until tomorrow and he sounds nervous. So you get over to his apartment as quickly as possible, and you have to say you're quite glad that his roommate, Gamzee, is out.  
"Hey," you say when he lets you in, "What's up?"  
"Hi," he smiles, and wow, he really does look nervous. And... why the fuck is he covered in paint? "I needed to show you something... um, I wanna ask your opinion on some of my art."  
"Oh, okay," you reply, understanding what he's nervous about now. He still always gets nervous when he shows you art, though he's getting better about it. He leads you up to the door of his bedroom, and then stops.  
"Umm... so we had to make a piece of art based on something we loved," he says, shifting from foot to foot, "And... I couldn't quite think what to do so... look I hope you don't mind." And then he slowly pushes his door open. And your jaw drops so fucking wide it almost hits the floor.

There's a large canvas leaning up against the wall, paint shiny where it's still slightly wet. You crouch down in front of it to take in all of the details. It's... you. It's a painting of you, similar to that sketch he did all those weeks ago when he first came to your house. You're facing at an angle, laughing, shades slipping down slightly so that parts of your eyes are visible, and yor hair's very slightly messy. It looks so authentically like you that it almost worries you. No one's ever seen you so transparent and raw before. It's like he can read you like a book, and knows exactly who you are.  
"Karkat," you mutter quietly, voice cracking, "Shit dude."  
"Do you hate it?" He asks, "I'm sorry, I should have asked before I painted you for my assignment."  
"No, no I don't hate it," you tell him, getting to your feet quickly and turning towards him. His eyes are watery, and you can tell exactly how anxious he is about this. You reach out and pull him towards you, tucking him into your chest and smoothing down his hair with one hand. "Fucking hell you brilliant, amazing little fucker," you say, "You're so goddamned talented. And I am so lucky to have you as my boyfriend."  
He pushes you back slightly to look up at you. "Really?" He asks, "You're not angry?"  
"Of course not," you tell him, "I'm... I'm flattered, I guess. I don't feel like I deserve this."  
"You do," he says, "God Dave, I love you so much!" He reaches up to kiss you desperately, and you pull him up towards you. He stops after a few seconds to start pressing tiny, light kisses all over your face, and you lift him up so he's got his legs around your waist and his arms slung over your shoulders.  
"I love you too," you tell him, kissing him on the forehead, "Thank you so much for painting this." He leans back to grin at you and push your shades up onto the top of your head. He likes to stare at your eyes sometimes. "How long have you been painting for?" You ask, noting the dark circles under his eyes and the paint stains all over his face and arms.  
"Umm..." he hums, in a way that tells you it's been too long for him to remember properly. Either that or just doesn't want to admit how long he's been painting for.  
"Go and have a shower," you tell him, bumping your forehead against his for a second before letting him back down onto his feet, "I'm cooking dinner."  
"Fine," he huffs, reluctantly removing his arms from around your waist. He giggles as you kiss him again, and then he turns away to go shower. "Don't burn my fucking kitchen down," he calls as you walk away, and you laugh to yourself, promising him you won't.

Later, he comes downstairs and steps into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around you to hug you from behind before you even have time to acknowledge his appearance. You let him stay there for a second, then turn in his arms and greet him with a kiss. His hair's still wet, water droplets running down his face and neck, and you swipe a few away with your thumb.  
"I'm making pasta," you tell him, burying your face in his wet hair. He lets out a little hum and cuddles closer to your chest.  
You sit out on his balcony and eat in the cool night air. He starts to shiver very slightly at some point, and you end up pulling him towards you so he's sat in your lap. As he sits there, you whisper quietly to him that you love him over and over, and he returns the sentiment to you. He slumps back sleepily, head resting on your chest, and you wrap you arms tightly around him. And within a few minutes he's almost falling asleep, so you sweep him up into your arms and carrying over to his bedroom, pushing the door shut behind you. You settle him on the bed and he murmurs something sleepily to you.  
"What?" You ask, leaning a little closer to him.  
"I said I'm really glad you like the painting," he says. You smile, and curl up behind him on the bed, looping your arms around him happily.  
"I really do love it," you say, "I'm gonna write you a song sometimes soon."  
"I look forward to hearing it," he murmurs quietly. He starts to fall asleep, and you run one hand over his head, brushing your fingers against his horns. He purrs quietly, and the sound doesn't stop until he falls into a deeper sleep. As he lays there, you notice a small fleck of red paint on his cheek. Leaning down, you gently press a kiss to his cheek right on top of the paint, and he smiles in his sleep. And you've never felt so peaceful in your life.

Karkat Vantas is so beautiful, and talented, and you feel like the luckiest person in the world to get to call him yours.


End file.
